The Sealaska Juried Art Show is a biennial show and competition for Native art held in conjunction with Celebration.

The Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian centuries ago developed a unique and distinctive artistic tradition and incorporated it into all aspects of their lives. The creative art forms were depicted on everything from sacred clan objects to utilitarian items, tools and equipment and housing. While Southeast Alaska Natives valued their material culture primarily for its spiritual and social dimensions, aesthetic qualities were also greatly appreciated.  Artists and crafts people, who created clan masterpieces as well utilitarian objects, held a special status within these indigenous cultures.

The arrival of Westerners to the shores of Southeast Alaska stimulated many changes.  The belief system surrounding Haa At.óow (our treasures) was challenged, and clan objects were sought by the outsiders as curios and artifacts. The creativity and workmanship of the early artists, as well as the exotic features of our artistic traditions, spurred an intense period of collecting by Westerners during the last quarter of the 1800s until the early 1900s.   

Other factors contributed to changes within the traditional material culture.  Native Peoples became increasingly restricted in their abilities to maintain access to their traditional subsistence economies, and they entered the cash economy to sustain their livelihood.  Additionally, the practice of art apprenticeships all but disappeared.  Art production continued, but it was largely limited to the tourist market which seriously began in the late 1800s.  With the increasing production for the export market and the decreasing number of young artists apprenticing with master artists, the quality of art production deteriorated.  Fortunately, a few artists were able to continue their ancient traditions, but the great art masterpieces that brought acclaim to the Southeast Native cultures were primarily located in museums.       

The mission of the Sealaska Heritage Institute is to perpetuate and enhance the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian culture.  In keeping with that objective and to reclaim the greatness of the Northwest Coast art traditions, the Institute in 2002 sponsored its first Juried Art Show in partnership with the Alaska State Museum to promote the development of Southeast Alaska Native arts.  The goals of the Juried Art Show were:

• To encourage and enhance the creation and production of Southeast Alaska Native objects of artistic value which have fallen into disuse and are becoming rare
   
• To stimulate and enhance the quality of artistic work among our Native artisans
   
• To encourage the development of new forms of art of purely Southeast Alaska Native form and design

News article on the first Sealaska Juried Art Show:
"Inspired by Tradition: The State Museum's Juried Art Show Includes Traditional Native Art and New Interpretations of Ancient Forms"